Medical Application : MEMS scanning mirror shrinks confocal microscope

 中文版

    Forget about the output function, the scanning Mirror MEMS can also be used as an input device such as a bar-code scanner. However, the more advanced development is a handheld "shrinking confocal microscope".

    Confocal microscopy is an optical imaging technique used to increase optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by using point illumination and a spatial pinhole to eliminate out-of-focus light in specimens that are thicker than the focal plane. It enables the reconstruction of three-dimensional structures from the obtained images. This technique has gained popularity in the scientific and industrial communities and typical applications are in life sciences, semiconductor inspection and material science.

(Ref : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confocal_microscopy)

    Optical molecular imaging (OMI) is an attractive and cost-effective tool for examining and monitoring disease states and to determine a drug’s effectiveness in living tissue. Highly portable, fast, and less expensive than conventional imaging technologies, it has the potential to bring sophisticated diagnostics right to the doctor’s office.

    In vivo OMI is poised to move into clinical use as one of the key tools in personalized medicine,  complementing more established imaging tools such as CT and MRI. Growth of equipment sales is on track to reach $400 million in 2014 and nearly $1 billion by the end of the decade.

    The market will likely expand in two complementary directions: research systems and clinical systems.  The research market will continue at a steady pace as OMI approaches become more widely used for drug discovery and preclinical studies. Recent advances in imaging agents will power the transition of optical techniques from the lab to clinical settings.

(Ref : http://www.optoiq.com/index/biophotonics/display/bow-article-display/7333675797/articles/optoiq2/biophotonics-/biomedical-imaging/molecular-imaging/2010/1/optial-molecular_imaging.html)   

    Laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) is one of the two tools widely used for in vivo Optical molecular imaging (OMI). Researchers in the US have unveiled a handheld confocal microscope capable of capturing high-resolution images at video frame rates. The key to achieving this sought after combination is a MEMS scanning mirror developed for projection display applications. The team hopes that this breakthrough could pave the way towards a new generation of miniature confocal microscopes.

(REf : http://optics.org/article/42311)

    The utility of confocal microscopy for skin imaging resides in its ability to provide cross sectional images with cellular detail similar to that of histological techniques. Recent work has largely been aimed at in vivo confocal imaging of skin, with a goal of providing a noninvasive sectional imaging method to replace existing biopsy and histology methods for diagnosis of suspected lesions. Though many studies show promising results with the use of bench-top confocal microscopes, clinical usage requires the use of a smaller handheld unit to allow for imaging of remote areas which are inaccessible by larger bench-top units. The compact design of this instrument is achieved by the use of a high-resolution, high-speed bi-axial microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) scanner developed for miniature projection, or pico projector, systems.

    Above all, what does it mean for Microvision? This is the secret card under CEO Tokman's chest. With enormous market potential (plus very high margin) and his connection to GE, the outside world probably won't hear any rumor about the progress in the area until it's fully unfolded. Once the 1080p HD pico projectors are widely available, at the same time, you should see the potential of MEMS scanning-based medical device explode as well.

Note :
(1) Evidence of Microvision's bi-axial raster scanners used in the research, see page 3 of 15 in PDF article below.
(Ref : http://www.opticsinfobase.org/view_article.cfm?gotourl=http://www.opticsinfobase.org/DirectPDFAccess/C8FD55D8-EDC3-9868-C4641C0A025BC025_195543.pdf%3Fda%3D1%26id%3D195543%26seq%3D0%26mobile%3Dno&org=)

(2) Tokman, a 10+ year GE executive, joined Microvision from GE Health care, where most recently he served as General Manager of Global Molecular Imaging & Radiopharmacy—a self-contained, global multi-technology business unit. Over the past five years at GE Tokman defined, developed, and successfully commercialized several new technology businesses including PET/CT,  which added $500M+ of organic top line growth to the company within the first three years of its commercial introduction.

(Ref : http://www.microvision.com/about_microvision/team.html)